Ongaku Magazine was founded by high schooler Brendan Gieseke as a teenage-run forum for rigorous musical conversation—an outlet crafted by and for people who already speak the language of music or are eager to learn its grammar and vocabulary. Its name, taken from the Japanese word 音楽 (Ongaku), reflects both Brendan’s half-Japanese, half-American heritage and the magazine’s ongoing mission to celebrate multiculturality: music as a universal dialect that bridges cultural divides without a single shared spoken tongue. From incisive album dissections and industry-savvy features to cultural commentary that situates songs within broader social and sonic movements, Ongaku blends technical insight with accessible explanation, aiming to sharpen readers’ ears, deepen their understanding, and honor the connective power of sound.

Ongaku Magazine exists to carve out a space where teenagers are not background noise but the principal speakers—where teenage opinion is treated with the same analytical rigor and cultural weight usually reserved for older gatekeepers. We believe music is both celebration and civic instrument: riffs and choruses lift us, but lyrics and production choices can also interrogate systems, map identities, and catalyze change. By giving serious student writers editorial freedom and technical mentorship, Ongaku foregrounds disciplined, well-reasoned voices that reflect what matters to young people now — from sonic trends and theory to social justice and personal testimony — insisting that youth perspective is essential to understanding contemporary music and culture.

Join us — not as passive listeners but as active contributors to a living, breathing music culture. Subscribe to our magazine, pitch a review, send us your mixtapes, or join the conversation on our socials. Whether you’re digging for obscure B-sides, decoding production techniques, or arguing about the evolution of a genre, your voice matters here.

Help us spotlight emerging artists, challenge worn narratives, and keep musical criticism sharp and humane. Together we’ll map new soundscapes, celebrate craft, and demand that music be taken seriously—by artists, by industry, and by each other.

Be part of the mission. Pick up the record, turn up the volume, and join us.